Monday, December 22, 2014

Charter Cable: Is it a Scam? You Decide.

Since this summer, we have been having a discussion with
Charter Cable regarding a monthly payment that they, and only they, had a
problem with on automatic payment. I mean, if you are on automatic payment, how
can you be late, right? When we got home from our vacation we called and
“thought” the matter was taken care of. We got a date, name and reference
number. It didn’t seem to matter. No matter what we did, they refused to take
the balance owed off their books.

Sunday, the day after I got home from the hospital after my
second week long stay, we discovered that Charter had disconnected our phone,
WI-FI and cable service. My wife took up the mantle and giving her all the
paperwork after 2 ½ hours, on the phone with Charter, I heard her say, “You
could but you won’t do anything for me?” OK, we are leaving Charter. Come get
your equipment. No, YOU come here and pick it up. There are Charter trucks here
all the time. We paid for the month. It appears you pay a month ahead for
services so we paid that. They owe us 28 days service.

We went to AT&T that afternoon and found out that we
would save $60-80 a month over Charter. It may not be the same but hopefully
steadier and work. I had to reboot the Charter router weekly and sometime more
to get it to work. NO matter how fast no signal is still no signal.

A few days before my back surgery I sent this letter to the CEO
of Charter. Today is Dec. 22, 2014 and I have not received any form of reply. I
doubt I will.Lap it up now cable as
your days are numbered. With CBS, HBO, ESPN jumping to the Internet, that’s two
of the three channels I watch. Cable has refused to untether shows…I personally
don’t need 30 Spanish stations and in Los Angeles as many dialects of Asian
languages. I never buy from Infomercials…and when all is said and done, of 200
channels I would watch at most 20 channels.

Here is my letter:

October 28, 2014

Mr. Thomas M. Rutledge, CEO

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS

8413 Excelsior Dr., 120

Madison, WI 53717-1970

Dear Mr. Rutledge,

Something happened to my billing this summer, somewhere in
either August and September of 2014. But before I discuss this, let me include
my payment statements from Bank of America and the statements I have received
from you.

Bank of America Statements:

5/13/14, 206.47

6/12/14, 206.47

*

8/12/14, 206.47

9/23/14, 206.47

10/27/14, 202.78

*Of course this happened when we were on vacation.

Charter Statements under auto pay:

8/21/14, 206.47

9/15/14 notice regarding a problem with my credit card

9/22/14, I called to pay it. The payment reference number
was #035058. I was told that I had a “0” balance.

9/21/14, the statement shows that there was no payment and
is now $414.53. See 9/22/14

9/21/14 received another dun notice.

9/28/14 talked to Donna and James her superintendent. They
said I had a “0” balance

10/11/14 a payment of 207.78 made on the phone.

9/23/14, another statement showing a balance of $414.53.
Talked to Lalnie and again got the balance to “0”.

10/21/14 a statement from you that I have a balance of $415.84

10/27/14 payment made in person to the Charter office in
Alhambra, CA for 202.78, the amount owed at that time. I was told everything as
balanced.

You can imagine my shock and anger when I looked at my
receipt this morning and it shows a balance due, still. This balance no matter what will not go away. I am tired of
being told over and over that I am current and getting statements from you for past
due amounts.

Which is it? Before I go to with my lawyer and go up with
the food chain with my complaint I would like some answers and resolution
regarding this matter. Would it be easier to simply cancel my account, live
without the Internet a few days and sign up again? I certainly might get newer
equipment including a Wi-Fi box that can’t hold a signal more than a few
minutes at a time.

I would appreciate a call from your office so we can get
this resolved once and for all. I am scheduled for spinal surgery Nov. 4th and
am trying to get all my chores done before then.

BTW, Calling your billing department is seriously a trip to
hell. If I ever meet “Richard” the first thing I would do would ….well,
hopefully we will never meet. He is the worst, most obnoxious employee I have
ever encountered in 69 years of life.

I look forward towards getting this problem resolved at
last.

Sincerely,

Alan Krug

9142 De Adalena St.

Rosemead, CA 91770

626-390-9919

P.S. Because they still say we owe them $214.00 they are holding the phone number I have since 1970 hostage. Screw them. Time for a change.